Article Competition at Asian School of Cyber Law, Navi Mumbai with collaboration with Government law college , Mumbai (pages from Diary).
Is it legal to ridicule a Government official or Minister on
Facebook?
No.
This is a very serious offence and could get someone in jail for life! And unlike what
is shown in Hindi movies, life imprisonment means imprisonment for life and not
just 14 years! Ridiculing a Government official or Minister on Facebook could be
illegal under the following laws:
1. Sedition
2. Defamation
3. Sending offensive electronic messages
Plus, if the Minister or official is a woman, it could also be covered under indecent
representation of women.
What’s covered?
Facebook posts, messages, comments etc. Even “liking” or “sharing” these posts
could get a person into trouble.
The details
Sedition
Depending upon the exact content of the message or post, ridiculing Government
officials or Ministers could be termed as “sedition”, which is defined in section 124A
of the Indian Penal Code. Sedition refers to spoken words, written words, photos,
cartoons etc that could:
1. bring the Government into hatred or contempt,
2. excite disaffection (disloyalty and all feelings of enmity) towards the
Government
Exceptions:
Comments expressing strong disapproval of the measures or actions of the
Government do not amount to sedition if they are:
1. with a view to obtain their alteration by lawful means,
2. without exciting or attempting to excite hatred, contempt or disaffection
Defamation
A comment that harms the reputation of a person comes under the definition of
defamation under section 499 of the Indian Penal Code.
A person’s reputation is harmed if the comment, photo cartoon etc does the
following in the estimation of others:
1. lowers the moral or intellectual character of that person
2. lowers the character of that person in respect of his caste or profession,
3. lowers the credit of that person,
4. causes it to be believed that the person’s body is in a loathsome or
disgraceful state.
Did you know?
1. Even companies, colleges, organizations can be defamed.
2. Sarcastic comments can also amount to defamation
Sending offensive electronic messages
Sending offensive electronic messages is penalized under section 66A of the
Information Technology Act. The following types of posts will be covered under this
section:
1. posts that are grossly offensive (e.g. cause anger, displeasure, resentment)
2. posts that are menacing or threatening
3. posts that contain false information sent for the purpose of causing
annoyance, inconvenience, danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal
intimidation, enmity, hatred or ill will.
4. posts or messages sent for causing annoyance, or inconvenience,
5. posts or messages sent to deceive or to mislead about the origin of the
messages.
Indecent representation of women
“Indecent representation of women” means the depiction of the figure or body part
of a woman in a manner that is indecent, derogatory or denigrating. Or which is
against public morality.
Posts, comments, pics etc. that indecently represent women are punished under
section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act.
Some Cases
(a) Two Air India cabin crew members were arrested and jailed for 12 days for
posting “derogatory” remarks against the Prime Minister’s Office, the
national flag and the Supreme Court, while commenting on a strike by Air
India pilots. (India, May 2012).
(b) Ambikesh Mahapatra, a Chemistry professor at Jadavpur University,
as arrested for forwarding a cartoon featuring the West Bengal CM
MamataBanerjee. (April 2012, India)
(c)Jaya Vindyala, a lawyer and president of the Andhra Pradesh unit of
People's Union for Civil Liberties, was arrested for her comments
against A Krishnamohan, a Congress MLA from Chirala in Prakasam
district. Ms Vindyala had accused the MLA of being involved in child
trafficking, ganja mafia, sand mafia and land mafia. (Hyderabad, India,
May 2013)
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